“Copenhagen is already a success!”, declares Jeff Immelt, GE’s Chairman and CEO

Speaking before a record audience last Friday at Net Impact’s 2009 Conference at Cornell University, Jeff Immelt turned his attention to COP15 and declared, “Copenhagen is already a success! Just look at the number of countries that have committed to voluntary GHG reductions prior to the meeting.”

Here's a brief summary of some recent announcements:

Nov 16 - The Australian government will commit to reductions of between five and 15 percent below 2000 levels by 2020 and if other nations agree to a 450 parts per million global target at the international climate negotiations at Copenhagen in December it will agree to more aggressive 25% reduction.

Nov 15 - High-level Turkish officials from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said last week that they would likely reduce emission by 11 percent by 2020.

Nov 13 - Brazil on Friday became the first emerging giant to make a nonbinding promise of this kind, saying it would make a voluntary pledge to reduce its emissions by between 36 and 39 percent by 2020 as compared to anticipated trends.

Nov 10 - Seoul's presidential office announced South Korea has decided on a 30-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from levels predicted for 2020, setting one of the most aggressive voluntary goals to roll back climate change.

Nov 6 - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged that Indonesia would cut its emissions by 26 percent by 2020 on a voluntary basis.

Oct 24 - Pressure on China and India to do their share in emissions reductions has resulted in the announcement of a memorandum of understanding for regional cooperation emission reductions, renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. While no specific targets have been set, China for example has committed to derive at least 15 percent of all its energy from renewable sources by 2020. (The government since has talked of a more informal target of 20 percent.) The second is to reduce energy intensity per unit of GDP by 20 percent over a five-year period.

And the list goes on, with the notable absence of the EU and the US.

While achieving a binding agreement at Cop15 is now unlikely, voluntary initiatives such as these are gaining momentum. Perhaps Jeff Immelt is right, Copenhagen is already a success.